Four wheel drive

1900s–1920s

The first four-wheel-drive vehicles to go into mass production were built by (what became) the American Four Wheel Drive Auto Company (FWD) of Wisconsin, founded in 1908. (not to be confused with the term "FWD" as an initialism for front-wheel-drive)
Along with the 11⁄2- and 2-ton Nash Quad (see below), the 3-ton FWD Model B became a standard military four-wheel-drive truck for the U.S. Army in World War I. Some 16,000 FWD Model B trucks were built for the British and American armies during World War I – about half by FWD and the rest by other licensed manufacturers. Only about 20% of the trucks built were four-wheel drives, but the 4×4s were more often on the front lines.